EppsNet Archive: Soccer

Let’s Play Some Soccer!

by Paul Epps on 2 Oct 2024

"This Is about Biology': New Hampshire Girls Soccer Players Boycott Game over Male Opponent https://t.co/30nbu2XWwT — Paul Epps (@paulepps) October 3, 2024 The team didn’t boycott the game, but several of the players did, which required the coach to fill out the roster with JV players. According to the story, this happens in every game that the Kearsarge Regional High School team plays — multiple girls on the opposing team refuse to play. I don’t blame them. Aside from being unfair, it’s obviously totally unsafe. I’ve seen men beating the hell out of women in boxing and MMA. I read about a high school girl suffering brain damage from being hit in the face by a volleyball spiked by a boy. I’ve heard about high school girls getting their teeth knocked out by boys playing on girls’ field hockey teams. I’ve seen a large high school boy playing girls basketball… Read more →

My Boyhood Sports Icons Are Dying: Pelé

by Paul Epps on 29 Dec 2022

Pelé is the the only man to win the World Cup three times, winning with Brazil in the 1958, 1962 and 1970 tournaments. At the time of his first World Cup competition, Pelé was 17 years old and the youngest player to ever participate. In 1999, the International Olympic Committee gave him the honor of Athlete of the Century. RIP Pelé Read more →

Competitive Programming: CodeSignal – footballGroupStatictics (A World Cup SQL Challenge)

by Paul Epps on 15 Jul 2018

Description You are creating a website that will help you and your friends keep track of the results of soccer games from all around the world. You store all results of one group in a table, results. You want to sort the teams in a complex way – first by points, then by total goal differences, and then by total goals. If all of these parameters are equal, sort the teams alphabetically. The results table contains the following columns: first_team – the name of the first team; second_team – the name of the second team; first_team_score – the number of goals scored by the first team; second_team_score – the number of goals scored by the second team. Here the primary key is the pair (first_team, second_team). Return the list of team names sorted in the way described above. Note: see three points for a win to understand how points are… Read more →

Competitive Programming: CodeSignal – canScore (A World Cup Challenge)

by Paul Epps on 11 Jul 2018

Description Your friend is a soccer fan and you were watching some World Cup matches with him. You liked this game, but the rules are very complicated for you, so you decided just to try to guess whether the given attack will end with a goal or not. In the beginning, the ball is in the attacking team’s goalkeeper’s hands. On the attacking team, there’s a very talented goalscorer, who is waiting for his chance at the other end of the field. His teammates want to give him the ball so he can score. They can move the ball by passing it one to another along a straight line, but the defender can steal the pass if he is closer than d to the ball at any point throughout the pass. Now you want to know if the attacking team can score or not. Formally, you are given the coordinates… Read more →

Separation of Families Considered Harmful?

by Hostile Witness on 21 Jun 2018

Here’s a photo showing two girls in a “cage” watching a World Cup match, amongst dozens of other kids who are for some reason wrapped in foil. I’ve seen this photo and others widely circulated online recently as evidence of the Trumpenfuhrer’s crimes against humanity. But guess what? The photos were taken in 2014, when some other guy was president. Many people have a single standard for evaluating political activity: Is it being carried out by Team Red or Team Blue. Nothing is good or bad on its own merits. I don’t remember anyone on Team Blue being outraged about kids in “cages” in 2014, but in 2018 it’s a humanitarian crisis that has to be denounced mercilessly, even if the evidence has to be faked. I haven’t heard anyone propose a viable alternative to separating parents and children at the border. I’m not sure Team Blue wants to find… Read more →

Women’s World Cup: USA 5, Japan 2

by Paul Epps on 5 Jul 2015

I turned on the TV just as the announcer was shouting “2-0, USA!” so I thought they must be showing highlights of the game against Germany. It’s only 4:06 p.m., the match probably hasn’t even started yet. Then I sent a text to my kid, “This will teach me to tune in to soccer games on time.” I sent a second text saying I thought when the announcer yelled “2-0, USA!” they must be showing Germany highlights. Then I sent a third text, “My god in the time it took me to type that they scored two more goals. Read more →

Women’s World Cup: Why the US Will Beat Germany

by Paul Epps on 30 Jun 2015

A recurring theme in world history is the United States dick-slapping Germany: World War I, World War II, “Tear down this wall!” … maybe that’s not the most appropriate metaphor for a women’s soccer match but we’ve been winners all our lives. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! Read more →

Mo’ne Davis: Female Athlete of the Year?

by Paul Epps on 31 Dec 2014

Little League World Series star Mo’ne Davis made a big impression on the sports landscape in 2014—enough to garner Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year honors. — Mo’ne Davis Named 2014 Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year | Bleacher Report I can’t decide if this is demeaning only to female athletes or to women in general. Reality check: Mo’ne Davis pitched two games for the Pennsylvania team in the 2014 Little League World Series — a 4-0 win and an 8-1 loss. Her team was knocked out in a semifinal game by the Nevada team, which went on to lose the final game to Illinois. Would the AP ever select a little league baseball player (or other 13-year-old boy) as Male Athlete of the Year? Would the AP ever select a Male Athlete of the Year who has not distinguished himself among his peers and has zero notable… Read more →

Infographic of Soccer Players, Fish and Gunshot Victims

by Paul Epps on 26 Jun 2014

Infographic idea: A multivariate analysis of who spends more time flopping around: soccer players, fish on a boat deck or people who’ve just been shot. Read more →

Shocking News About Soccer

by Paul Epps on 29 May 2013

Robbie Rogers, on in the 77th minute, makes American sports history as the first openly gay male athlete in a major U.S. sport. — Deadspin This came as shocking news to me . . . not the gay aspect, but the fact that someone considers soccer a major U.S. sport . . . Read more →

Soccer Takes Over Sproul

by Paul Epps on 16 Oct 2011

EppsNet at the Movies: Bend it Like Beckham

by Paul Epps on 12 Jul 2010

In keeping with the World Cup theme, we rented Bend it Like Beckham last weekend. My wife liked it a lot. I liked it too, although I thought the subplot with the soccer coach was baloney. My favorite song, “Nessun Dorma,” is featured in a key scene. Two thumbs up! Read more →

Twitter: 2010-06-27

by Paul Epps on 27 Jun 2010

Did You Know? Benny Feilhaber attended Northwood High School in Irvine! # Read more →

Twitter: 2010-06-26

by Paul Epps on 26 Jun 2010

RT @SarahKSilverman: Sometimes people act like the US isn't the only country in the whole world. # Ignore the influencers: The dangers of a social media world | Conversation Marketing http://shar.es/mIRWQ # Watching the World Cup unfold on Twitter at http://twitter.com/worldcup/home # Read more →